Day Four (David)

Day four we visited Ruudt Peters and Andrea Wagner in their studios. I found Ruudt Peters’ presentation on his work and how he makes it fascinating. I noticed similarities between the way he gathers inspiration and the way I have worked in the projects I consider to have been my most successful (although of course, my procedure is comparatively undeveloped, hence, perhaps, the presence of this fledgeling likeness only in my best work). With this knowledge, I believe I could learn a lot from his work, but of course I don’t want to become a clone (I have a different aesthetic, anyhow, but I am fascinated by the way he gathers inspiration).

It is difficult to compare myself with such a successful artist without feeling pretentious, but two days earlier, Ted Noten told us to “find a hero,” and to steal shamelessly from them, until we’ve learned all we can from them (of course this was all a bit tounge in cheek and it was obvious that he wasn’t advocating plagiarism). Ted then went on to say that once you have learned all you can from your hero(es), to “kill” them (meaning to stop “following” them, or to challenge them and outgrow them). I am sure that Ruudt wouldn’t object to this treatment, because he said himself: “Burn the books,” take all the knowledge you can from them, then go and burn them (not literally, everyone seems to be talking in metaphors), he means to gather all your inspiration, but not to let it burden you when you’re actually going on with making your own work.